Which word rules your part of the town? March is bracket season, and Dictionary.com has assembled a field of 32 of the most iconic local slang from around the country, separated out between the West, Northeast, South, and Midwest. Now it’s up to you to vote on which regional lingo (and region) reigns supreme! Winner Y’all The people have spoken and y’all won Best Regional …
Two important Muslim holidays stand out as some of the most important dates on the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr in the spring and Eid al-Adha in the summer. They are separate festivals, and each commemorates a different pillar in the Five Pillars of Islam. However, both are commonly shortened to simply Eid, and the greeting Eid Mubarak (roughly meaning “Happy Eid” or “Blessed Eid”) can be used for both. …
NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. THIS CONTEST IS INTENDED FOR PLAY IN THE UNITED STATES ONLY AND WILL BE GOVERNED BY U.S. LAW. DO NOT ENTER IF YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE AND LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE TIME OF ENTRY. OPEN TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE 50 …
The English language is famously full of confusing and often contradictory spelling conventions. You know it’s bad when misspell itself is one of the most common misspellings! To identify the words that consistently give people trouble, we analyzed Dictionary.com search data to compile this list of the most commonly misspelled words. For each word, we prepared tips to help you remember how to spell it …
So you have an important test coming up. Standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, GRE, and GED are a major part of the high school, college, and even graduate school experience, but prepping for these tests isn’t exactly everyone’s favorite activity. Each of these tests serves a different function in the high school and college admissions process, but no matter which one you’re signed up …
The pronunciation of words in English is not always straightforward. Unlike some languages, such as French or Spanish, there is not always a direct relationship between the spelling of words and how they are said aloud. In technical terms, there is not always a consistent relationship between graphemes (basically, writing units) and their phonemes (sounds) in English. There are a couple of reasons for this. The English …
If you have to ask what it means to be cool, well, you probably aren’t cool. What is cool, though, is just how many slang words we’ve used over the years to talk about people and things that we think are fab, funky, fresh, groovy, fly, phat, lit, gnarly, rad, and the cat’s meow. And that is just a taste of the coolness we managed …
According to the World Health Organization’s international studies, an estimated 1 in 270 people has autism spectrum disorder. This prevalence has inspired the declaration of April as Autism Awareness Month or Autism Acceptance Month. The United Nations also observes April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day. With this recognition comes the expectation that people will be inspired to learn more and share information about autism spectrum disorder, …
The idea of Earth Day emerged in 1969, inspired by a growing awareness of environmental concerns. Celebrated each year on April 22, the day highlights the importance of protecting the natural world. The first official Earth Day was organized in 1970 by Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who hoped to bring environmental issues to the attention of politicians and the broader public. Nelson was moved …
COVID-19 has provided a consistent vocabulary lesson in epidemiology. Among the most important distinctions it has highlighted are the differences between the terms epidemic, pandemic, and endemic. These words have major similarities—all three end in -demic and deal with the spread of disease. But there are key differences, including those related to scale and duration. In this article, we’ll sort out the differences and answer …
Do you know all of your colors? No, we aren’t just talking about red and green. We mean color words like quercitron, puce, and dragon’s blood. There are so many unique and fascinating words that describe shades of color in our language. If you stop at the basics, you might just miss out on some of the most vivid and historically interesting shades that exist. …
